Totally Unforeseen
by Yeeha-Yeeha
Summary: Cait's true motivation for her relationship with Robert. . . .


_**Totally Unforeseen**_

I don't own the characters, only miss them and wish to tribute. . . .

Summary:

Cait's true motivation for her relationship with Robert. . . .

Opening Statement:

Why, Why, Why?

Have you ever wondered why Caitlin's attention strayed from Hawke so soon after she followed him to Santini Air? Or, why she didn't seem terribly upset the moment Hawke blasted her boyfriend's plane? Or, why she bounced back so quickly to her bubbly self? Here's a possible scenario to ponder. . . .

Approached early on by Marella -and eager for the opportunity to see that monster helicopter again - Cait acted as bait to lure the assassin currently known as, Robert, into a trap, setting him up as an easy target for Hawke to safely neutralize in a relatively remote area, minimizing potential impact on public safety. Utilizing previously-established intelligence contacts, Marella cleverly drops hints that Cait is an emotionally vulnerable, easily-impressionable, and lonely young lady, in the hopes and expectation that the confirmed assassin will prey on her to bring his target, Carter Anderson III, along a predictable path. Never once suspecting that his prey is not as naive as she appears at first sight, he fell to his own ego, becoming over-confident enough to completely overlook the uneasy feelings and suspicions a seasoned professional such as he would surely have.

The plot cleverly outlined by Marella was initially dismissed by Archangel as unlikely to succeed - given Cait's inexperience in the intelligence community and complete lack of field operative training - but he had to finally agree with Marella. . . that very lack of experience meant that Cait didn't 'talk-the-talk and walk-the-walk' as a seasoned field agent would - translating into Robert not instantly recognizing the mannerisms and conditioned responses expected during a set-up. The very reason the assignment was sure to fail destined it to certain success.

Though he questioned his top aid's judgement in allowing the ex-cop another glimpse of the elusive Airwolf, Archangel had to admit - Caitlin appeared to be every bit a tough cookie as Marella was sharp. Knowing that Hawke would never needlessly endanger an innocent party - and he suspected Hawke was deeply interested in his new friend, Cait, as more than a mere bystander (even if Hawke refused to admit it to anyone, least of all himself) - Archangel judged Marella's plan to completely leave Hawke in the dark as ingenious.

Chalk another one up to Marella - offering the plane that Caitlin flew in the assignment up as payment if certain conditions were met, was a dangled carrot too good for Cait to pass up. You see, everything in Cait's background investigation file pointed to her being a good ol' girl, who did the right thing and prided herself on honesty. Marella had to illustrate to her how deception would result in the best outcome with minimal loss of life. She also believed that Caitlin was about as motivated by money as Hawke was - just as he turned down a million dollar reward for repossessing the aircraft stolen by its designer from the FIRM and whisked off to a heavily-fortified location in Libya in favor of the return for his MIA brother, alive or dead - Caitlin would turn her nose up at a large sum of money. But, offer her a plane that was worth half the reward the FIRM and multiple other undisclosed entities were putting up for the elimination of a world-wide threat - and Cait would salivate over that carrot, obsessing over a plane she could never afford on a cop's salary - or a flight instructor/mechanic/occasional stunt pilot's take-home pay. That plane equalled freedom, and what a fine example of freedom it was - sleek, fast, maneuverable, its passenger interior as finely appointed as her cockpit electronics were as advanced - Cait was sure to fall in love. The conditions were non-negotiable and specific:

1. Ensure safety of both Carter Anderson III and Stringfellow Hawke,

2. Lure the assassin into Hawke's crosshairs resulting in a fatal shot,

3. Minimize damage to public in loss of life or property,

4. Maintain secrecy of Airwolf, and

5. Keep Stringfellow Hawke and Dominic Santini in the dark during the entire assignment, and afterwards.

Those conditions were also, "all-or-nothing" in regards to the reward.

Quite a tall order for a green, completely untrained agent on her first assignment. But, not unheard of - such as the nature of a sink-or-swim business. So, to show Cait good-faith, Archangel authorized Marella to purchase a small, exclusive aviation company specializing in supplying high-end aircraft for lease in transporting top business executives to various destinations throughout the country and around the world. Of course - true ownership was buried deep, cleverly hiding Cait's involvement. When Dom knew he needed a plane to pull this assignment off, Marella recommended the company as a 'no-questions-asked' with 'high-regard-for-clients'-confidentiality' kind of establishment, so Santini Air made the contractual arrangements none-the-wiser.

Well, how did Marella's elaborate scheme turn out? Like clockwork -

1. Carter Anderson III and Stringfellow Hawke are both alive and well,

2. The assassin is no longer a threat, not after Hawke exploded his plane into shrapnel,

3. Only minimal property damage was realized, and no public life was spared outside of those directly targeted by Robert as witnesses to his existence,

4. Airwolf's secrecy was maintained - albeit loosely, as far as Cait is concerned, and

5. After all these years, Stringfellow Hawke and Dominic Santini have absolutely no idea Caitlin was anything other than a naive hired-on pilot, and remain clueless as to Cait's true ownership of the plane they are contracted to house, maintain, and regularly take up on check-flights. The company's favored check-pilot happens to be Caitlin O'Shauassey - who unbeknownst to Hawke and Dom, also happens to be the sole owner of "Yee-Ha Specialty Aircraft" in California, a division of, "Lone-Star Technologies" in Texas, affiliated with, "Freedom Flights" in upstate New York", who leases aircraft to, "Angel Charters", under long-standing contract with and recently permanently relocated from Pennsylvania to, "Santini Air" at Van Nuys Airfield.

Such a working relationship between Angel Charters and Santini Air has arisen, that Dom only sees the dollars and cents of the storage and maintenance fees of Angel's growing stable of varied aircraft, overlooking the frequency of the manager's insistence that Cait is assigned as their first-choice pilot for their company's craft. After all, she is multi-engine rated. . . .

You see, after the first success, Marella formulated a plan that ensured Cait would not only stick around despite consistently being disappointed emotionally by Hawke, but she would continuously be eager for more assignments. For as much as Cait wanted Hawke to love her, her love of flying was stronger, and, so far, infinitely more fulfilling than her seemingly one- sided relationship that seems to have turned into a best friends or brother-sister type of relationship.

Upon first introduction, Marella recognized immediately the effect Caitlin had on Hawke, grounding him in reality and tempering his recklessness - his need to ensure her safety checked some of his wild, high-strung tendencies; plus, her common-sense approach complimented his bold style in formulating tactical approaches. And, Marella saw right through his insistence that Cait was just an acquaintance or a friend. It was obvious to Marella that Hawke loved Cait, but was too wary to admit it. She also knew that his rationale that he was protecting her safety veiled his true motivation for avoiding a real relationship - he was afraid she would die like others he was involved with, or would one day leave him. He wouldn't trade his relationship he has now with her for anything in the world, not even his love.

Marella and Archangel were so pleased with Caitlin's successful role in eliminating an internationally-feared assassin, they constructively began arranging to expose an internal threat that they had been concerned about long before Cait showed up at Santini Air. Marella orchestrated info to be leaked to Ken Sawyer's associates of a set of nuclear detonators. You see, the agents saw that one coming - hints and evidence suggesting Ken might pull something were discovered years in advance of the crime - so Marella carefully dropped crumbs and tidbits to Ken's contacts for several months - first, hushed whispers of a super-helicopter operated locally by a yahoo and his friends. Gossip progressed to tales of the cute little redhead in the lead pilot's inner circle who was naive and impressionable, who no, currently is without a boyfriend and yes, is emotionally vulnerable. And, lucky for Ken, the hot-shot pilot protects as if she were his little sister. This info wasn't leaked to any one individual - that would arouse Ken's suspicion of a set-up - it was cleverly slipped by insiders familiar with the helicopter project to people in Ken's acquaintance, office-gossip style, in a, "Did you hear about, . . .?", kind of fashion. Ken, in turn, would hear it as water-cooler-talk from many different staff members.

Those folks were honest, loyal, FIRM employees with no intention of compromising integrity of their organization in particular or national security in general, they simply were engaged in typical workday conversation - which, surprisingly, occurs in high-security facilities just as it does in your average large office complex. Marella knew Ken was savvy enough to assemble the variety of gathered facts, puzzling them together into a snapshot, and understood that he was unrealistically over-confident enough to brazenly believe his abilities and would completely miss fitting the scene into the big picture. And, that Ken was too unschooled to realize that he was stealing deactivated and totally useless by-product scraps assembled into realistic-looking detonation equipment. Archangel has faith in Marella's knack in organizing tactful and unique approaches to situations compromising to national security; he recognizes that many of her successes supported him to his coveted and respected position he has today. Certainly, she is the behind-the-scenes go-to person who quietly attends to details to get things done kind of person - and, in the process, is someone who makes her supervisor look good to his peers and superiors. A rare gem, indeed. Archangel knew that the FIRM wasn't ready yet for a woman to be accepted into a cherished leadership role, but expected one day she would take his place in succession or possibly operate alongside him, leading her own division. She was savvy, and incredibly intelligent, but not yet ready professionally or emotionally to tackle the really tough decisions such a high-level position required, like weighing likely success between projects, taking one likely to succeed only to sacrifice important others more likely to fail. Or, choosing to save one life over another, even if the second option involves a more likable person than the first. Such is the business. In the meantime, Archangel was content to have her as his top aid and favored attendant - oh, and yes, his very best friend. That is, if you were permitted a friend in such ruthless business as they operated in.

**Author's Notes:**

Evidence for this possible scenario can be seen when Cait didn't really seem that broken up at moment Robert's plane was destroyed. I think she cried because he was so stupid to pull something like that - and it was a loss of a life. Caitlin cares so deeply for people she loves, I think - skilled pilot or not - that her plane would have faltered momentarily if someone she loved just met death. She recovered with some effort from the shots at her, but did not show significant stress in controlling the plane after Hawke took Robert's plane out. If you were driving a car when witnessing something like that, wouldn't you falter at that moment, necessitating a quick and noticeable recovery effort? Contrast her reaction in that episode with her reaction to seeing Dom shot 'dead' - she almost screamed out audibly, or when she lost it when she thought she killed Hawke with the antidote to the mind-altering serum. Granted, those events occurred later in their relationship, when they, presumably, were closer; but, her reactions in both situations were unmistakeable - she obviously loved both men. One as family, or as a mentor perhaps; the other as, what? What was Hawke to her, really? Best friend, almost a lover, maybe? Or perhaps, the little sister he never had?

Cait did kiss Robert. Was Cait in love ? Was she the victim of totally unforeseen betrayal? Her composure after Robert's kiss so unlike her reaction after her sudden surprise at Hawke's kiss on the movie set just after tracking Hawke down to Santini Air. That was a woman head-over-heels in love. She seemed in shock, unsettled. She didn't seem ready for it.

**Upon Further Examination**

Did Caitlin really enjoy being with Ken? She appeared to be having a good time with him, but I just can't think she would take up so easily with another man when she so obviously favored Stringfellow Hawke. Could he have been another assignment from the FIRM? Certainly, she seems to click better with him than Robert, but again, I doubt she would have even been attracted to anyone other than Hawke. Ken just doesn't seem her type to me; I don't think he would have rated more than a glance or a friendly hello from her. And, what a coincidence it was! I would think she would be suspicious of a man suddenly showing up, trying to win affections so soon after her friends go on high-alert for a search of stolen Government equipment. She would see right through the attempt, after having been through the experience with Robert. And, I have a feeling that if Archangel and Marella hadn't approved of Caitlin, she would have been on her way quickly, or have been hit by circumstances necessitating her exit back to Texas. Believe me, Caitlin would have to earn her keep in the eyes of Archangel and Marella, or the FIRM would have shown her the way out. Airwolf was too important a project to risk compromising, and proved quite handy in rectifying these interesting little situations that inevitably kept popping up.

**Just for Fun**

I hope you found this story an interesting diversion. I pondered sharing this different perspective, worried that it might ruffle feathers of some purists, but I figured I'd put it out there for people to contemplate. I just want share my suspicion that Cait had an important role in the eyes of Michael and Marella and must have secured their approval. And, I seriously doubt that another man would steer Cait's attention away from her beloved Hawke.

I hope this unusual, though rather unlikely, turn of events piqued your interest for a while, and served as an interesting diversion. . . .

**- Yeeha!**


End file.
